Independent Newspapers 13/12/2007
Joe Slovo eviction application dismissed
December 13 2007 at 10:31AM
An urgent application to stop the relocation of 20 000 Joe Slovo informal settlement residents to Delft, on the Cape Flats, was dismissed by the Cape High Court on Thursday morning.
Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe said he would give reasons for the decision at a later stage.
The legal teams for both parties have now launched an application for consent to evict residents of the Joe Slovo settlement, which is next to the N2 highway.
The state-owned developer Thubelisha Homes wants to construct formal housing there as part of the Western Cape’s N2 gateway project.
The proceedings continue. – Sapa
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20071213100652888C576175
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Bush Radio 12/12/2007
Joe Slovo goes to court
By Henry Booysen
12 December 2007
Outside the Cape High Court hundreds of Joe Slovo residents filled the streets today in protest of not being evicted to Delft.
This follows after Thubelitsha Homes a institution of the national department of housing sent the community to court applying for a court order to evict the residents to Delft.
Judge President John Hlophe who led proceedings was asked by Advocate Budleneder representing the Joe Slovo community to be careful if he should decide to evict 20 000 people.
The advocate also raised concerns of obstructions leading to serious offences being taken by the community.
Mzwanele Zulu Joe Slovo task team leader was very positive at the proceeding smiling and dancing with the community.
“I’m very positive and I’m happy I’ve heard much of these discussions in court, I can see it and I’m hoping for the good now actually,” says Zulu.
“We are waiting for a positive response and negative response, but our main aim is not to leave Joe Slovo,” he said
The court proceedings have adjourned for lunch time.
Thubelitsha Homes were not available for comment.
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Cape Times 13/12/2007
‘Forced removal bid worst in 30 years’
By Aziz Hartley
A city lawyer hailed for helping communities resist eviction under apartheid says the government’s attempt forcibly to remove 20 000 Joe Slovo, Langa, residents is the most serious eviction case he has handled in 30 years.
Geoff Budlender, instructed by the Legal Resources Centre, is representing the residents in an application to the Cape High Court challenging the legal authority of the government housing agency Thubelisha Homes to seek an eviction order.
A temporary eviction order has been granted.
Peter Hathorne, also acting for the residents, said a memorandum of understanding between the City of Cape Town and the provincial government – to transfer city land for housing and of which Thubelisha was the chosen developer – affected residents’ rights.
The company and the government want to move people living in Joe Slovo to Delft and to build mortgaged homes on the land as part of government’s N2 Gateway project.
Judge President John Hlophe said he would give his ruling on Thursday.
“The main application (to evict) approximately 20 000 people (has) really serious consequences for those people,” Budlender said.
“(Joe Slovo) is a settled community. Children have been born there and brought up there, and people have died there.
“In about 30 years of defending people being illegally evicted, I can’t think of another case where the authorities have sought an order of this kind. It could mean the destruction of a community. This is a vulnerable community and we look at the court to protect them.
“In the context that justice be done and be seen to be done, people should not be stopped to defend themselves.”
Steve Kirk-Cohen, for Thubelisha Homes, agreed the matter was sensitive, but said the N2 Gateway project was a pilot programme that had to begin somewhere. He said if the application against Thubelisha succeeded, it would lead to delays.
In highly technical arguments, Kirk-Cohen and Michael Donen, for the department of housing, said the residents had been aware of the planned developments and should have inquired if they had objections.
Donen said the N2 Gateway was a critical component in the government’s plans to eradicate the housing backlog.
Outside the court, about 2 000 people from Joe Slovo, including mothers with babies on their backs, danced and sang in the street.
A Joe Slovo leader, Mzwanele Zulu, said the people were determined to resist the eviction and remained optimistic of winning the case.
Before adjourning on Wednesday, Hlophe told the legal teams that if he ruled against the residents, they should be ready to proceed with the main application opposing the temporary eviction order being made final.
* This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on December 13, 2007
__________________________________________________ Cape Times
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20071213041844509C923573
Cape Talk Radio 12/12/2007
Joe Slovo relocation ruling today 12/12/2007 6:23:35 AM
About five thousand Joe Slovo residents are expected at the Cape High Court today for an application against government’s plans to relocate them.
The housing department wants to move the families to Delft while completing the second phase of the N2 gateway project in Langa.
Thousands of residents demonstrated against the move in September, by blockading the highway and clashing with police.
The housing department then approached the Cape High Court to evict the families.
Joe Slovo task team spokesperson, Mzwanele Zulu, says he’s confident about the outcome.
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SABC News 12/12/2007
Court to decide on Slovo residents move today
Houses being built at N2 Gateway Housing Project
Cape residents have filed papers opposing their eviction from Langa to Delft
December 12, 2007, 07:15
Residents of Joe Slovo informal settlement in Langa on the Cape Flats have now split into two groups regarding government’s proposal to relocate them to Delft. About 30 families have voluntarily moved out of their dwellings to make way for the development of the second phase of the N2 Gateway Housing Project in the area. This comes ahead of the Cape High Court’s decision expected today on whether thousands of residents should be forcibly removed.
The battle between Joe Slovo residents and the Department of Housing has been raging for months now. A series of protests by Joe Slovo residents supported by the action group known as the Anti-Eviction Campaign has also taken place to demonstrate their unhappiness about government’s plans. The last straw was to demand that First National Bank withdraw its contract with government to develop houses on a tract of land at Joe Slovo – they accused the bank of colluding with government in forced removals.
The housing development project is running behind schedule as thousands of residents are resisting being moved to Delft – saying that the area is far from work opportunities. One of the family members who just vacated the area, Sabelo Mkhwambi, says it has been a difficult decision to make: I do not want to move, but I must move away to let the builders come and build for us here. We are moving to the temporary houses at inter site.”
Relocation plan
Another resident opposing the plan to relocate them to Delft is Sakhumzi Mgemane who is running a Spaza shop in Joe Slovo. He is of the view that moving out is more of a risk. He says he is not relocating, pending the outcome of the court case because he suspects that government wants to dump them in Delft which he says is a wasteland.”
Meanwhile, the Cape High Court is expected to decide later today whether the remaining thousands of Joe Slovo residents should be forcibly removed.
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Bush Radio 10/12/2007
Joe Slovo mass meeting held
By Tina George
10 December 2007
Today Cosatu held a mass meeting at the Cape Town City Hall with residents of Joe Slovo and a number of other communities who are facing housing problems.
“The meeting was to express our support against the government and their attempts at forced removals for these communities,” says Cosatu spokesperson Tony Ehrenreich.
“We will be going to court with the residents on Wednesday to make sure we oppose these removals. We hope that all communities will have the opportunity to get decent housing in areas closest to their work opportunities,” says Ehrenreich.
Hout Bay residents who themselves were able to overcome threats of forced removals from government were also present at the gathering.
“The meeting went well I’m happy with it, I can see that there are people who are realising what is being done by the government,” says Spokesperson for Joe Slovo residents, Mzwanele Zulu.
Joe Slovo residents along with Cosatu will be attending a court hearing regarding their removal on Wednesday,12 December 2007.
http://bushradionews.blogspot.com/2007/12/joe-slovo-mass-meeting-held.html
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Bush Radio 6/12/2007
The case against Joe Slovo residents postponed
By Anele Siwa
06 December 2007
The eight Joe Slovo informal settlement residents who were charged with public violence a few months ago appeared in Bishop Lavis magistrate court on Wednesday morning.
“The case was postponed until the 14th December 2007,” says Joe Slovo Task Team Spokesperson Mzwanele Zulu.
According to Zulu they don’t even know why this case has been delayed.
“This is a very unfair case to begin with since it was well documented that it was the police who committed public violence against us by shooting us at an illegally unacceptable close range with rubber coated metal bullets and dragging old women along the ground and injuring them, says Zulu
Zulu says that the arrests were even more unlawful because the police targeted activists only, while the entire community was involved in the peaceful protest.
Attempts to get comment from Bishop Lavis Magistrate Court have failed.
http://bushradionews.blogspot.com/2007/12/case-against-joe-slovo-residents.html
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SABC News 12/12/2007
End of evictions in sight for Joe Slovo residents
December 12, 2007, 18:30
Jubilation erupted outside the Cape High Court this afternoon, as over 1 000 Joe Slovo residents burst into song at the news that a positive ruling in their review application of government’s agreements with Thubelisha Homes, could mean the end of bids to have them evicted.
Cape Judge President John Hlope earlier adjourned the matter, saying a ruling in favour of the community would be the end of the matter. However, he extracted promises from all the legal representatives to be ready to go ahead with the main application, which is the eviction order application, should he rule otherwise.
Community leader Mzwanele Zulu says they are optimistic of a positive outcome.
The department of housing has handed the land over to Thubelitsha Homes to develop. The National Housing Department, Western Cape Housing Department and Thubelisha Homes are applying for the removal of Joe Slovo residents to Delft, 30km away. That is to make way for the development of the bonded houses.
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Mail and Guardian 1 December 2007
A lethal find
Pearlie Joubert
01 December 2007 11:59
A massive row is brewing between the Joe Slovo squatter community and the government after a Cape Town professor found the presence of the lethal crocidolite asbestos in material similar to that used to build the walls of temporary houses in Delft — a suburb outside Cape Town where government wants to move this 25 000-strong community.
Crocidolite is the most lethal carcinogenic known and, if inhaled, causes mesothelioma, an aggressive and untreatable lung cancer. South Africa is believed to have the world’s highest rate of masothelioma and one of the highest rates of asbestosis.
It’s still not illegal to manufacture building materials containing asbestos. Draft legislation accepted by Cabinet at the end of 2005, but which has not been promulgated, proposed to make it illegal to mine, process, import, export, sell or even transport this potentially lethal mineral. Crocidolite or blue asbestos is regarded as the most dangerous.
Legislation banning the use of asbestos is expected to be promulgated by the end of the month or early next year, said Thendo Nethengwe, assistant director of chemical management at the department of environmental affairs.
The department of housing and the community are locked in a bitter court battle after the department obtained an urgent court order last month to evict 6 000 families from Joe Slovo to Delft so that phase two of the N2 Gateway housing project can continue. The case will be heard in the high court on December 12.
The N2 Gateway project, Housing Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s flagship housing project, has been dogged by controversy since its inception. Phase two, consisting of bonded houses to be built by First National Bank, have been on hold for many months because the shack dwellers of Joe Slovo refuse to move to Delft — an area which is about 20km outside town.
On Friday last week an affidavit and report by Chris Harris, professor in the department of geological sciences at the University of Cape Town, was filed at the Cape Town High Court as part of the community’s case opposing government’s plan to move them.
Harris, who is a scientist with 20 years’ experience, was given two pieces of building materials collected from “Tsunami” — the area in Delft where Joe Slovo residents are to be removed — and asked to analyse and investigate them for the presence of asbestos.
“There were two materials — one red and relatively new, which had on it a stamp stating that it was ‘Eyethu Everite asbestos free’, and a grey sample appearing older, which was unmarked. The fibres I examined are 100% consistent with them being chrysotile and crocidolite, respectively. I am satisfied that they are, and accordingly would commonly be referred to as, asbestos,” Harris said in his report.
Harris found the fibres in the red sample were “clearly visible, abundant and are part of the material. The majority of the fibres are colourless, a minority are dark; consistent with colourless fibres being chrysotile and dark fibres being crocidolite.”
The government has been moving Joe Slovo residents into the temporary relocation areas (TRA) in Delft called “Tsunami” and “Thubelisha” for the past three years and has claimed consistently that the material used to construct the temporary houses is reinforced fibre cement and not asbestos.
This week, Prince Xhanti Sigcawu general manager of Thubelisha Homes, the company managing the construction of the N2 Gateway, said that the material used in Tsunami was provided by Everite.
“They specifically got the contract to supply us with material because it is asbestos-free — it’s fibre cement and I don’t know where those two pieces of material analysed come from,” Sigcawu said.
He was adamant the material used to build the houses in Tsunami had been approved by the South African Bureau of Standards.
“We are not manufacturers. If Everite says its building material contains no asbestos and it has the SABS approval, there’s no need to test it,” he said.
Everite Building Products, owned by the JSE-listed Group Five, has provided the building industry with material for more than 60 years and is renowned for its fibre-cement roofing, ceilings and pipes, which are asbestos free.
Everite’s spokesperson, Brian Gibson, said this week that he was “at a loss to explain where this material comes from” and indicated that Harris could have been mistaken when he found asbestos in the building material with an Everite serial number and logo.
“Since December 2002 we have manufactured absolutely no product containing asbestos. If Harris found asbestos to be present in the materials presented to him for analysis, then they were not the materials sold to the department of housing for temporary informal housing,” he said.
But Gibson did not rule out the possibility that old stock might have entered the market. “There was a period until 2003 when stocks contained white asbestos and it could have found its way into the market. I need to see the scientific proof and I would like this material to be reviewed by a recognised asbestos expert using X-ray defraction techniques — we have not manufactured asbestos products for five years,” he said.
Harris said it was unnecessary to do further tests on these pieces of material. “My professional opinion is that further tests are not necessary … I’m satisfied they’re asbestos.”
The two pieces of material were collected from Tsunami by Shaheed Mohamed, a lecturer in mechanical engineering in the faculty of engineering at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Mzwanele Zulu, a student at the university and spokesperson for the Joe Slovo residents committee’s task team fighting the removal, and a qualified civil engineer.
Mohamed, who filed an affidavit as part of the community’s court papers, said he had personally picked up two pieces of material in Tsunami.
“Alongside a TRA ‘house’, I saw two pieces of material, one red and one grey … Both red and grey pieces corresponded with material used in the construction of the walls. I examined the walls and am able to confirm that the patterns on both the red and the grey pieces of material correspond with the material used to build the wall.”
Mohamed said Everite confirmed that the serial number on the material belonged to the firm. “The Everite official even told us that the material is not old, but probably a piece manufactured in 2007.”
Richard Spoor, a human rights lawyer who, on behalf of former asbestos mine workers and their families, took on Gencor, the former investment holding company, and won R460-million in compensation a few years ago, said this week: “Crocidolite is death.
Everite’s Gibson made an affidavit on Thursday claiming that Everite had spent more than R100-million developing material that is asbestos free. He denies that there is any asbestos in the material and says that Harris is mistaken.
“The materials supplied to the department of housing is known as ‘autoclaved big six’ … it contains a combination of both cellulose and man-made organic synthetic fibres. They can, if analysed by a person insufficiently au fait with our product, be confused with asbestiform fibres.”
‘No asbestos in material’
The head of Electron Microscopy at the National Institute for Occupational Health, Jim Phillips, analysed the same two pieces of building material that Harris did and has found that the “red fibre-cement material does not contain asbestos”.
Phillips was asked by the state’s legal team to analyse the material using polarising light microscopy and confirmed Gibson’s findings. He said that the material was “suggestive of a man-made organic fibre”, and not of asbestos.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=326470&area=/insight/insight__national/